MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS 193 



height of fence required depends on the size' and weight of the 

 turkeys and also upon whether they are in the habit of flying. 

 A turkey that is not accustomed to fly may not attempt to go 

 over a fence four or five feet high that has no top upon which 

 it could alight. The same bird, when confined in a strange place, 

 might, without hesitation, fly to a roof twice as high, because, 

 although not in the habit of flying, it has the power to fly such 

 a distance and can see that the roof offers a suitable place for 

 alighting. A turkey in the habit of flying over obstacles will 

 often go over a fence six or seven feet high without touching. 

 A turkey hen that is laying will not fly as freely as one that 

 is not, because the weight and bulk of the eggs in her body 

 encumber her movements. For this reason a five-foot fence is 

 usually high enough for a yard for breeding stock, if they are 

 to be confined to it only as much as is necessary in order to 

 make sure that the hens will lay at home. 



Feeding. The natural diet of the turkey, like that of all birds 

 of the order of Scratchers, consists of a variety of vegetable and 

 animal foods. Turkeys eat the same things that fowls eat, and 

 apparently in about the same proportions, but their foraging 

 habits are quite different. The disposition of the fowl is to dig 

 for its food wherever it appears that anything is to be had by 

 scratching. The turkey will scratch a little, but it prefers to 

 wander over the land, picking up the food that is in sight. Fowls 

 will forage from their house to the limits of their usual range 

 and return many times in the course of a day. A flock of 

 turkeys, if allowed to do so, leaves its roosting place in the 

 morning and makes a wide circuit, often returning home in 

 the afternoon from a direction nearly opposite to the direction 

 they took in the morning. On their circuit, which is likely 

 to follow the same course day after day, turkeys have their 

 favorite feeding and resting places. Persons familiar with the 

 route of a flock can tell where they are likely to be found at any 

 hour of the day. If food becomes scarce on their circuit, the 



